-12.10(-0.21%)

-0.00(-0.59%)

Sackings hurt flood victims: Palaszczuk

The Queensland government needs to stop sacking public servants so flood victims can receive the help they need, Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk says.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for Queensland in January was a seven-month low of 5.5 per cent.

It was a huge drop from December's 6.1 per cent and the lowest rate since June's 5.3 per cent, preceding the budget job cuts announcement in September.

But Ms Palaszczuk said the jobless rate was the same as it was at last year's March election, meaning there had been no move towards Premier Campbell Newman's promise of four per cent unemployment.

She wants Mr Newman to put a moratorium on cuts already announced or in the pipeline, in the wake of the state's flood disaster.

Ms Palaszczuk says the cuts, particularly in the Department of Communities, have caused major delays at recovery centres across the state.

"I know that in disasters it is always a case of `all hands on deck', but if there are fewer hands to call on because of past sackings then it is people in local communities who will suffer as well as overstretched government workers," she said.